title: Biofilm development by potentially pathogenic non-pigmented rapidly growing mycobacteria.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A study to evaluate the biofilm-development ability in three different media (Middlebrook 7H9, sterile tap water and PBS-5% glucose) was performed with 19 collection strains from 15 different species on non-pigmented rapidly growing mycobacteria (NPRGM). A microtiter plate assay was developed to evaluate the percentage of covered surface of the microtiter plate wells in different days from day 1 to day 69.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All strains were able to develop biofilm in all the tested media. Middlebrook 7H9 showed the fastest growth, followed by sterile tap water and PBS-5% glucose. A sigmoid growth curve was detected in all the strains both in Middlebrook 7H9 and in sterile tap water. A difference could be detected for Mycobacterium abscessus in tap water, where it showed faster growth than all the other strains.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Biofilm development seems to be a property of all the species of NPRGM and it depends on the nutrients present in the medium. The microtiter plate assay described here is a useful tool to evaluate differences in biofilm development among the different species of rapidly growing mycobacteria.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Microbiology, Fundación Jiménez Díaz-UTE, Madrid, Spain. jestebanmoreno@gmail.com
authors.forename: Jaime
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Esteban
authors.forename: Nieves Z
authors.initials: NZ
authors.lastname: Martín-de-Hijas
authors.forename: Teemu J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Kinnari
authors.forename: Guillermo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ayala
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fernández-Roblas
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Gadea
mesh_terms: D001422:Bacterial Adhesion; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques; D018441:Biofilms / Q000254:growth & development*; D003470:Culture Media; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009161:Mycobacterium / Q000254:growth & development*
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media